


Now The Moon Is Almost Hidden

by TheBluestBluebird



Series: The Stars Are Beginning to Hide 'verse (A/B/O of my dreams) [4]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, chapter-specific tags tbd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:29:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28001676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBluestBluebird/pseuds/TheBluestBluebird
Summary: It’s not like they can’t access doctors on the Isle, but the thing is, none of them have ever liked trying to explain the cause of their injuries to doctors before.  Either it’s the prissy medical students who Auradon sends over every month to hold clinics, or the Isle’s own, who are somewhat less likely to make horrified faces when you tell them that your friend’s father gave him third degree burns from trying to get him to sit down and shut up at the dinner table.
Relationships: Evie/Jay/Mal/Carlos de Vil
Series: The Stars Are Beginning to Hide 'verse (A/B/O of my dreams) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050911
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	1. Basic Medical Care Is Hard (originally part of chapter 2)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back babey!!! Sometimes I have to cut scenes for pacing (or I have terrible brain weasels that tell me to write like,,, an entire chapter's worth of fic about life on the isle despite having no place to put it) and I like them too much to get rid of them entirely. It's like hoarding, only with fic!
> 
> This probably won't make a whole ton of sense unless you've read my other A/B/O fic, but I fully support making your own fic order choices. Go on. Be a rebel. 
> 
> As always, not mine, just playing in Disney's sandbox. Title (also as always) is from Desolation Row.

They’re supposed to go in for physical examinations today. Mal doesn’t especially want to go, and she’s sure that the others aren’t looking forward to it either, but at least it means they’re probably going to be allowed to stay for a while, if the princeling is arranging them doctor’s visits. 

It implies some level of upkeep, like they’re real students, is what Mal means. It’s kind of cool to feel like someone cares enough to fix them up, that’s all. 

Anyway. 

It’s not like they can’t access doctors on the Isle, but the thing is, none of them have ever liked trying to explain the cause of their injuries to doctors before. Either it’s the prissy medical students who Auradon sends over every month to hold clinics, or the Isle’s own, who are somewhat less likely to make horrified faces when you tell them that your friend’s father gave him third degree burns from trying to get him to sit down and shut up at the dinner table. 

On the Isle, the doctors were more likely to take the explanation at face value, so long as you let them come around for that dinner as payment after. They didn’t do stupid Auradon shit like make you go see them again when you felt perfectly fine, or stab you with needles for no fucking reason that Mal can tell. She’d spent the night looking up medical dramas on their stolen laptop, and even the few educational videos she’d found that hadn’t been blocked by the school’s server hadn’t offered much reassurance that today’s visit is going to be a productive one. 

The point is, Mal isn’t feeling the most excited for today’s super-fun Isle kid outing. None of her pack is thrilled about today’s activity, and she understands that, but at least  _ some  _ of them haven’t been acting like stupid children hiding in the bathroom all fucking morning. 

++

They’re supposed to meet down by the car at half after nine. Breakfast was at seven, and they've been rattling around the room waiting since then. 

Evie forced her way into the bathroom ten minutes ago, when it became clear that Carlos could not possibly still be in the shower, and she’s really doing her best. All of the TV programs that she’s seen have shown panic attacks as something that happens when someone is curled up on the floor, rocking back and forth and possibly hyperventilating. What they don’t show is your best friend, standing fully dressed in the bathroom refusing to move and snapping at you whenever you suggest that maybe, possibly, he is not actually dying and would feel better if he came out of the bathroom and let someone give him a hug.

It’s uncomfortably reminiscent of some moments that Evie remembers being on the other end of, like after a particular pirate encounter when she thought her heartbeat would never slow down again and she was going to have a heart attack and die and would have been better off if they’d just let her fall in the ocean and drown. Evie’s never been the one trying to reason with the crazy person before, and as it turns out, it’s kind of hard to think about what to say when someone you care about is completely refusing to cooperate. 

She’s not giving up. They have ten minutes before they have to be out of here, and she’s not giving up until she has to drag her boy out of here with her teeth, if needed. 

“They’re going to hold.” Evie says calmly, not for the first time. “Listen to me. They’re going to hold. The staff have no reason to suspect anything’s wrong with you. They’re not going to ask any questions that you don’t know how to answer, and it’s going to be fine. You’re going to get through this, and then I’m going to get what we need, and it’s going to be fine.” 

“I know that.” Carlos says. He’s not listening to her. He’s staring off into space, zoning out and ignoring everything she’s trying to do. “I know.” 

Evie is going to smack this boy. Maybe that would help, actually. Snap him out of this, or something. 

“Then listen to me!” she doesn’t yell. Yelling only ever makes things worse. “They have nothing to be suspicious of! Fairy Godmother can’t even smell us, Mal swears by it. They have no reason to think anything is off.” 

“‘Know.” 

Evie frowns “No?” 

Carlos takes a deep breath. “I know. It’s gonna be fine.” 

This is further than she’s gotten before. Maybe this is what progress looks like? “Are you going to be fine?” she asks. 

He snorts. “I’m gonna be great. Stellar.”

He’s still white-knuckling the bathroom counter. Maybe not so great just yet. 

“Look, I’m sorry,” says Evie. The unspoken  _ sorry we can’t drug you up for this  _ doesn’t need to be said. Auradon has a lot of useful things, but doctors who don’t care what else you’re on so long as you stop bleeding on their stuff unfortunately isn’t one of them. “Suck it up, buttercup?” 

Carlos rolls his eyes at her. “Gee, thanks, Evie. That makes me feel so much better.” 

On the other hand, one of the cooler things about Auradon is how easy people are with their things; one of the purses that they swiped includes what the internet and Evie’s mirror both assure them are “class B anxiety medication” or, the good shit. After a bad night a week or so ago, Evie and Carlos had tried splitting a pill. It’s probably not the best idea they’ve ever had, but the bottle has become a bedside staple since then. 

“Go cry to Mal about it, baby.” Evie says. “We gotta go, like, now if we don’t want them to come looking for us.” 

Carlos laughs. “Do you think I want to be like this?” he asks. “Eves. I woke up this morning and literally thought I was dying.” 

“I know.” she says, as gently as she can manage. They really do need to go. “We were in the same bed, baby. I remember.” 

“Argh,” Carlos groans, but at least he’s not clinging to the counter anymore. Evie’s pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to pry him loose without some extensive knife work, and she’s really not down for that just yet. “Can you just leave me behind so I can smother myself?” 

“Not this time!” Evie chirps, hustling him out the door while the opportunity is there. He goes, with a minimum of active resistance. Score one for Evie, hah. 

“Damnit.” 

++

The second the bathroom door closes behind them, Mal swoops in. 

“Are you done?” she demands. “We’re not going to be late, we have to make sure they don’t leave without us. I am  _ not  _ chasing after a car in these boots.” 

Okay, so maybe Carlos isn’t the only one who’s nervous about what’s going to happen today. 

“We’re ready to go, babe,” Evie assures her girlfriend. “So ready.” 

Mal links her arm through Evie’s own, pulling her along without another look. “Perfect.” 

Somewhere behind them, the boys are having their own moment. Evie should maybe keep better track of her people, but honestly, dealing with Mal when she’s all riled up and irritated is enough of a full-time job, and just because she’s the pack beta and the pack witch doesn’t mean she’s also signed up to be a babysitter. If the boys are winding each other up, they can deal with it on their own. She loves them, she really does, but she is  _ so  _ done, tapped out for the moment. To each villain their own self-interests and all that. 

Jay bumps into Carlos as they’re heading out of the boy’s room. “You okay?” he asks. 

“As I’m gonna be.” 

“You got this, dude. It’s gonna be fine.” 

Carlos sighs, every inch the put-upon youngest child of their group. “Sure. Fine.” 

Jay's shoulder bumps him again. “Hey, I can’t even smell you right now. That’s gotta mean something, right?” 

Carlos rolls his eyes, which is his evil-given right, but okay, it’s not terrible to know that his crew is looking out for him here. “Sure.” he says. “Can you maybe shut up?” 

It’s not personal. If people see them as a cohesive unit like this, they’re more likely to catch on to the fact that nope, those awful new villain children aren’t just a group of isle kids who’re sticking together because they got pulled together. People looking at them too closely is never going to be a good thing, and the more they stick in a unit, acting like a pack, the worse it’s going to get. 

Jay steps back, dropping into his usual place at the back of the group. Tailing them. “Yep.” he says. 

It’s fine. This is gonna happen, and it’ll be quick and painless, and then the school will get off their collective ass about not having vaccination records, and it’ll be smooth sailing straight to the wand from there. 


	2. Redecorating (Ch. 3 bonus scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was editing chapter 3 of The Stars Are Beginning To Hide and re-reading some of lazulisong’s excellent yuri on ice fic, and this sort of happened. Consider it a bonus scene of sorts?

“Eves?” 

No. It is too fucking early to be woken up again. No way. 

Evie opens her eyes anyway, because she loves her pack dearly, and she doesn’t actually fantasize about murdering them in their sleep whenever they keep interrupting hers. She  _ doesn't.  _ She’s going to get up. She is, for real. 

“Evie? You can go back to sleep after, I swear.” 

Ugh. That’s Carlos, and she’ll feel bad when she wakes up for real if she ignores him now. 

“Next dose is in the red bottle.” she mumbles. It’s probably a med question. She doesn’t care enough to wake up more, if all he needs is to be reminded where she’s been keeping his current cocktail. 

There’s an intense silence next to her. Then, “No, uh--” 

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Evie doesn't want to wake up and answer questions that actually require brain power right now, not after the night that she’s already had with Mal. 

“ _ What? _ ” she hisses. It’s not shouting, but apparently it’s too close for this early in the morning, because the next thing Evie hears isn’t Carlos’ usual tone at all. 

“Nevermind.” he says, perfectly evenly. “Go back to sleep, I got it.” 

Ugh. Evie is doing her best here, she really is. She opens her eyes again, not that it makes much of a difference in the dark predawn light. She tries to flop an arm out of her blanket cocoon to--no, nope, he’s not going to like being petted. She lets the freed arm dangle off the bed instead. “No, baby,” she coos. “I didn’t mean it like that.” 

Nothing. 

Evie tries again. “What do you need?” she asks, gently this time. 

Carlos is standing back, out of her arm’s reach. He’s still wearing a mix of their clothes, instead of his usual layers of black and white, and it makes him look vulnerable, even though he’s just standing here in Evie’s bedroom. She wants to throw a jacket on him, or his bag, or something. Boots, maybe. That would help. She can see the steady rise and fall of his breathing even from over there. He looks horrifically young and fragile. 

“Nothing.” he says.“M’fine. We’re moving some stuff.” 

Oh. There’s a practical reason for bowers, right. Nesting. “You need me to move?” 

Carlos shakes his head. “Nope. We can move around you.” 

Damnit. Evie should know better. “I’m sorry, baby,” she says. Hands to herself, but oh, she wants to hold him close so badly. “I didn’t mean to snap.” 

He nods. “I know.” 

Fuck. She really didn’t mean to snap. She sits up instead of trying to apologize again, because it won’t work anyway, and if she doesn’t get up now she’ll probably fall back to sleep and start them over at square one again. “What can I do?” she asks. 

Carlos shrugs. “We’re really almost done. Mal said to let you sleep.” 

“Mal-- oh.” It’s not dark because it’s early, Evie realizes. It’s dark because there’s blankets hung over the curtain rods to keep the light out. There’s a pile of fabric over by the door, and the closet door is hanging open, making a little hidden space on one side of the room. Mal’s bed, Evie sees now, has been angled in so that it’s almost touching the wall on two sides, just a little sliver left open in the corner, just the size for a pair of skinny teenagers to hide in. “You’ve been doing all this without me?”

Carlos looks slightly guilty. Unfortunately, combined with his scent, it just makes Evie want to cuddle him up in blankets forever and tell him everything is going to be alright and he never needs to look sad again. “You were asleep.” 

Evie groans. “Where’s Mal?” 

“Still out. She said she’ll bring back breakfast.” 

“Okay.” Evie rubs her eyes. One boy, one princess, one fairy accounted for. That just leaves--

Carlos is making a weird face, like he’s trying not to show any expression, only he’s doing it badly for once. “Jay’s in the bathroom,” he explains. 

Ah. Heat hormones getting the best of him, then. Even with the pills, there’s only so much that can really be done when a pack is in constant close contact with each other like this. Sure, technically, heat doesn’t have to mean sex, but there’s a certain desire that happens for most alphas, and if their omega isn’t into it, into the bathroom they go. 

Evie yawns, taking a second to just breathe in the pheromones in the room. Mm. Maybe she could go and join Jay for a minute--no. She’s got a mission here. 

“Where do you need me to go, baby?” she asks. Her bed could go against the far wall, maybe, to make another little hidden corner, or it could get turned by the radiator, to add another layer in front of the shelter that Mal’s bed is making. Maybe by the window? 

Carlos shrugs again. He’s sweating, Evie notices. That could be a good sign, if his fever’s breaking, or more likely, it’s just because he and Jay have apparently been rearranging the entire room around her and he’s been pushing a lot of furniture around. “Nowhere.” he says. 

“Do you want this bed against the wall too?” Evie tries. 

No response. Evie stands up and makes like she’s going to push her bed against the wall with Mal’s. That gets a response.

“No!”

Evie crosses her arms. Boys who won’t tell her what they need get her best disapproving looks. Even with bedhead, she knows that she makes a pretty good picture. “Where do you need me?” 

Carlos gives in. “Sideways.” he says. “So it’s near the window. Like--” Evie makes a motion to move the bed, but apparently that’s wrong, and Carlos makes a noise as he steps up to push her aside. “--just let me do it.” he finishes, waving her out of the way.

Evie steps back. “Do you need anything else?” she asks, once the bed has been moved to her boy’s satisfaction. 

He ducks his head. “No.” 

Evie gives him her best don’t-fuck-with-me look, the one she’s been practicing on him since they were little kids. “Do you  _ want  _ anything?” she asks. 

Carlos stays frozen for a long second, and then takes a tiny step forward, towards Evie. “Yeah,” he says, pushing forward until he’s tucked up close againt her side, and she can wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Sorry, Eves. I’m all sweaty.” 

Evie shifts to get both arms around her friend. “Aw, baby.” she whispers. “It’s okay.” 

She rocks them back and forth just like that, standing in the middle of the dark room with all the furniture pushed so that it looms dark and strange in the corners of her vision. She’s still kind of tired, and the boy in her arms is soft and sleep-warm, and even though the entire situation they’re dealing with sucks, it’s nice in the moment. 


	3. In Which There Is No Cannibalism (Cut Scene from ch. 4)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can tell from the time stamp, this was originally part of chapter 4 of The Stars are Beginning to Hide. It ended up feeling too redundant, and got cut in favor of spending more time with the pirates instead

Monday, 4:18 am.

“Should we just all call in sick?” 

Mal taps her heels against the floor as she thinks. It’s early enough that she doesn’t have her boots on yet, so it’s just the soft noise of her socked feet against the rug. “I’td look too suspicious if we all call in. I’m only going to have time to hit one tray before things start looking suspicious, so it’ll be better if we take shifts sticking with him.” 

“It won’t be suspicious if we’re all missing classes?” Evie asks. Sometimes Mal needs help thinking about the people-sides of her schemes. 

“Fuck. Right,” Mal sighs. “We can’t leave the boys behind together, that’ll look even worse.” 

Evie nods. They’ve been getting comments already about how ‘tight-knit’ they are as a group, especially the boys. They haven’t been getting anything they can’t deal with, but it’ll be easier if they don’t leave them to skip together. “We can switch out. Ben will understand.” 

Mal recoils. “Aghh,” she groans. “I’m going to have to tell Ben something, otherwise he’ll try to be all ‘caring prince’ and take care of us, or whatever these stupid do-gooders do all day long.” 

Evie doesn’t think it would be the worst idea ever, to tell Ben about their actual relationships and secondary dynamics. She thinks that Ben would probably understand, or at least be willing to try and understand, if she can convince Mal to give him the chance. Evie thinks that Ben would be a better beta, a beautifully even-tempered prince and provider, who wouldn’t do things that accidently poison the pack, even if he doesn’t mean to. Evie thinks that they should tell Ben. 

It’s never up to Evie, though, and she’s not the kind of person who’s going to go behind a friend’s back to do what she thinks is best for them. “Would it be so bad to just tell him the truth?” she says. “Mal, he really likes you. I think he might understand.” 

Mal goggles at Evie. Even with the weight she’s put on since they’ve been at Auradon Prep, she still has giant-looking eyes, and with the expression she’s making, it kind of looks like they’re going to fall out of her foolish head. “Tell the child of our worst enemy, the person who locked us on the Isle, about our most vulnerable point? Eves, are you crazy?” 

Evie sighs. Of course, Mal isn’t going to accept that sometimes, she might want to cultivate more allies, rather than pushing away every potential person who likes her and might want to help her out. Like the future king of Auradon. Who also controls the program that brought them here. And could send them home at any minute if they cross hin too badly. “Right. Yeah.” 

Mal notices Evie’s frown, and she crosses the room to take both of Evie’s hands in her own. “I’ll make something up. Isle tradition?” 

Evie pouts. “What, to throw up on your own?” 

Mal raises their joined hands to drop a kiss on first one, and then the other spots where Evie’s rings have left pale stripes on her hands. “Why not? If they can believe that we’ve been eating our own babies to keep the population down, they should believe this.” 

Evie laughs, even though she’s still kind of annoyed at Mal. “They’ll believe anything. You’re right.” 

“I’m always right.” 


	4. Ben and Fairy Godmother’s Conversation (ch. 4 missing scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A missing scene! This one takes place during ch. 4 of The Stars Are Beginning to Hide. It's also the first thing I wrote with Ben POV, so if it feels a little weird compared to some later Ben stuff, that's why!

“What do you know about pack bonding, young man?” Fairy Godmother asks sternly, as she’s walking Ben over to the infirmary room. 

Ben considers. “We don’t do it anymore. That’s —it’s just like pair bonding, isn’t it? Only with more people, obviously.” 

“No.” 

Ben is pretty sure the answer isn’t as cut and dry as Fairy Godmother is telling him, but he knows when to hold his tongue. “What do you mean?” he asks, instead. 

Fairy Godmother sighs. “Packs,” she starts off,“--well. They’re certainly, ah, they’re--something! Pack bonding is an antiquated idea, and you’re absolutely correct that we here in Auradon don’t pack bond anymore, but I suppose, of course, the villains always did hang on to the silliest ideas—“ 

Ah. There it is. “What?” 

“It’s outdated, there’s no need for it in a civilized society—“ 

Ben waves a hand, stalling Fairy Godmother’s lecture. “What do you mean, the villains still hang on to it?” 

She stops. Raises her eyes to the ceiling. Taps at the outside of the phone case sticking out of her sensible skirt pocket. “There is adequate reason to suspect, dear, that your little project kids have, ah, regressed to their baser instincts.” she admits, finally. “Bonded, that is, as a pack. All of them, together.” 

“Oh.” 

“We can deal with this! Pack bonding is uncommon, certainly, and not exactly an ideal model for romantic relationships here in Auradon, but considering their unique situation, they could be considered as foreigners, and—“ 

Ben is pretty sure that the Isle-born children (both these first four, and those who are going to come along after them, next semester and after that, for as long as there are kids who shouldn’t have been abandoned by the crown out there who need the chance to get out) aren’t exactly foreigners. Children-in-exile, maybe, like the way his mother used to speak about some of her cousins in the continent, children of her own kingdom, born while their parents were living outside of the country, but citizens nonetheless. The villain kids should be considered full members of Auradon society, and some of them royalty besides that, but that’s an argument for another day. 

“Calm down, Fairy Godmother!” Ben says, instead of what he’d like to say. “We’re not going to throw them out because of— because they’re a pack. It hasn’t been nearly that long since we were all raised by packs, right? My great-grandparents were part of one. It’s going to be alright.” 

Fairy Godmother cringes a bit at the reminder, but seems to take his point regardless. “Oh, dear, I hope so. It’s not good, at such a young age, to already have bonded with others like this.” 

In retrospect, what Ben said next was a bad idea. Even in the moment, he knew that he shouldn’t say it, but sometimes, when a boy has been told over and over that it is his royal duty to find a wife and an heir and produce children that will be better than him, the mention of being too young for an advantageous match feels a bit like striking a nerve. 

“How is it any different than me and Audrey dating?” Ben cries. “Or Chad and Camilla? We see just as many broken hearts as anyone else here, and we aren’t told that we’re too young to find partners.” 

“It just  _ is  _ different, dearest. It’s something that you’ll understand when you’re older, once you find your own partner.” 

His own  _ one  _ partner. Sure, there’s been a push in recent years towards more inclusive policies, but Ben knows that he is expected to find a beta or omega wife, who will want to hang off his arm prettily and stay out of royal politics and stay home with the children, which she will be expected to bear for him. His cousins to the north are allowed to have thirds, another partner who will care for the children while the royal couple chooses to engage in political leadership together, but his kingdom is too traditional, too fragile, too recently knitted together by the thought of mutual power and protection to stomach the idea that maybe, possibly, their prince might not want to settle down with a single wife and children by the time he’s twenty-five. 

Ben takes a breath, It does not do to yell, especially when he’s getting his way already, what with being allowed to sit by Mal as she recovers. 

“Fine.” Ben says. “That’s fine. Are they going to be alright, without her there?” 

“Ah—“ 

Oh no. “Are they going to be alright?” Ben presses. 

“It's hard to say, that is— without more information—“ 

“Are we looking for them?” 

“Yes!” Fairy Godmother cries. “Yes, your highness. We have the guards out looking for them right now, and the perimeter alarm hasn’t gone off, so we are going to find them.” 

They’re going to find them, Ben’s sure of it. He hasn’t been getting to know the villain kids as well as he maybe should be, but he has been making some effort to hang out with them, when he can, and he’s positive that the other three wouldn’t go very far without Mal. Until she wakes up, they’ve got a decent chance at finding the other three. 

“When will Mal wake up?” he asks. It might help to have a timeline, in case they need to send for more guards. 

Fairy Godmother touches her temples. “Within the hour, I suspect.” she says. “I would prefer to give her something for the pain, if you’ll allow it.”

Ben frowns. “Will it make her sleep?” 

“Yes.” 

She’ll want to be up and back with her-- her  _ pack,  _ then, as soon as she possibly can. She won’t be pleased if she finds out that Ben has let Fairy Godmother give her anything that’ll make her sleep for longer than she’s got to. “Then no. She’ll want to be awake as soon as possible. We’re not drugging her without her consent.”

They’re nearly at the infirmary doors now. “Mm. Very noble of you.” Fairy Godmother says with a forced little smile. “Will you be sitting with her until she wakes?” 

“I will.” Ben says evenly. 

Fairy Godmother gestures him forward. “Very well then.” she says. “I’ll be in my office, if you would be so kind as to bring her down once she’s up to it? It takes a bit more than one cell phone to organize a campus-wide search, I’m afraid.” 

Ben nods. “Understood. I’ll bring her down once she’s awake.” 

“I—” she starts. “Highness--” 

Ben shoots her his best council-silencing look. “Thank you, Fairy Godmother.” he says. “I look forward to seeing you in your office.” 

And with that, he pushes through the doors. A king has his priorities, after all, and a friend in need is certainly a more important calling than soothing the feelings of a single adult, even one with as much power as Fairy Godmother wields. What is the title of selfish young prince good for, if not to occasionally prioritize his friendships over wisdom? 


	5. Dead End (an extra scene that doesn’t fit anywhere or lead anywhere)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm 90% sure that the first line of this came from a bandom fic I read ages ago, but I can't for the life of me find it again and make sure. The tragedy of reading lj fic in the modern age :((( 
> 
> Anyway, it felt like it really fit for Mal's general issues in this 'verse, so I borrowed the lil bit that was stuck in my head and make this.

It’s fucked up.  _ Goodness  _ knows, it’s fucked up. 

Mal doesn’t care. She’s spent sixteen years listening to her mother tell her about how she has to defy the order of things, how she’s not a beast like the rest of them, how she’s got to be better than, to rise above, to stay in control of her basest instincts, even when all her body wants to do is  _ bad.  _

So, sometimes Mal finds people she doesn’t have to hold back with. 

When she first presented, she was fifteen. Not much older than most of the other kids, but still old enough that her mother voiced her  _ pride  _ that her daughter had done better than the others, holding back her  _ beastly  _ urges. That pride has dropped away when, of course, Mal couldn’t hold her body back anymore, not even with the pills and potions she’d been taking to hide her body up until that point. To stop it coming on. Block up her sensitive nose, dampen down the heat that flared up in her belly sometimes. 

Of course, no matter what Maleficent wanted, she went and had a kid with the most powerful person she could find on the island. She got what she wanted, in a way. The most overpowered fucking kid she could possibly produce, trained since childhood to use her powers as best she could in their magicless prison, with her orientation held back until she couldn’t keep it down any longer. 

Mal regrets it. She doesn’t feel pleased, or get that little squirm of evil that usually comes when she knows she’s done something bad. She doesn’t like being the person who snaps and bites and wrestles her crew to the ground, but it feels so good in the moment that she can’t stop herself from giving in to it. She  _ knows  _ that it’s fucked up that she likes it, likes making her family submit to her, but she’s not going to stop. 


End file.
